Warnings to R.I. agency failed to save four at-risk babies

Thursday

Mar 23, 2017 at 1:31 PMMar 23, 2017 at 7:00 PM

The state left four babies who have died since August at risk despite warnings from family, friends, hospital workers or police, according to a review ordered by the state child advocate. The report calls for an overhaul of the way the Child Protective Services assesses risk and investigates phone calls placed to its hotline.

Katie Mulvaney Journal Staff Writer kmulvane

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The state left four babies who have died since August at risk despite warnings from family, friends, hospital workers or police, a review ordered by the state child advocate found.

In one case, five calls had been placed to the Department of Children, Youth and Families Child Protective Services in the six months leading up to an infant's death. The callers reported parental substance abuse, concerns about the baby being repeatedly dropped, neglect, failure to thrive and inadequate housing.

The agency investigated one of those calls. The parent was flagged for neglect after admitting to drinking alcohol and dropping the infant. A month later, the state closed the case, despite ongoing concerns about the parent's depression and self-medication.

The 10-member Child Fatality Review Panel, convened by state Child Advocate Jennifer Griffith, detailed the death of a second infant found unresponsive in bed with her mother. The state had been alerted by the hospital after the mother admitted she had used marijuana and taken anti-anxiety medication during pregnancy. A state investigation deemed concerns "unfounded."

The state failed to investigate a third baby's death, though the family had a history with Child Protective Services that involved domestic violence and prior allegations of neglect of another child, an 18-month-old.

The fourth death involved a baby who twice had been the subject of calls to the state warning of drug abuse and questioning the parent's ability to provide proper care. That case was closed as "unsubstantiated."

The report also investigated two cases of near-fatalities, one involving an infant left with multiple skull fractures and traumatic head injuries, while the other child suffered burns over 16 percent of the body. Both families had previous DCYF involvement.

"Absolutely, the report is disturbing," said Ben Lessing, chairman of the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families. He was struck by the prevalence of substance abuse and mental illness involved.

"A lot of calls come in for families multiple times and the kids are left at risk," Griffith said, adding, "We've got to make it more safe. These cases didn't come out of thin air."

The report released Thursday called for an overhaul of the way the Child Protective Services assesses risk and investigates phone calls placed to its hotline. The review found calls persistently being categorized in a manner that failed to trigger an investigation, leaving vulnerable children unattended to or at risk with no uniform tracking of a family's involvement with the state.

"We need to take a very hard look at how we're intervening and how quickly we're intervening," Lessing said. He expressed confidence that new DCYF Director Trista D. Piccola would be looking closely at the issues raised.

Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Rhode Island Kids Count, said she hoped the state's response would be swift. "There are aspects of the system that absolutely need to be fixed," she said.

The recommendations include mandating that investigators respond and "put eyes" on any child younger than 6 who is the subject of a call alleging abuse or neglect. Investigators, too, would ensure the well-being of children after three calls are received about a given family.

The panel repeated, too, a years-long refrain that case workers were overworked and under-supported, often handling case loads far exceeding national best-practice standards while grappling with secondary grief and trauma. The panel called for the department to ensure that all staff have adequate training and that administrators comply with a state law requiring that they hold a master's degree in the field.

Piccola said in a statement that she hadn't yet reviewed the report, but that the department's highest priority is the safety of children in Rhode Island. She said she looks forward to working with Griffith and agency staff to improve outcomes for children and families.

"I am taking the panel’s findings, some of which I find troubling, and recommendations very seriously as I know we all share the same interests in building a better child welfare system for our state," Piccola said. "Since I started at DCYF last month, I have taken steps to address some of these concerns — filling vacancies in our front-line staff, starting a thorough analysis of how families enter our system and finding ways to better support our workforce."

Griffith briefed Gov. Gina Raimondo on the findings.

“The allegations described in the report are deeply troubling, and I am confident that DCYF Director Piccola is already working to address many of the issues identified," Raimondo said in a statement.